Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic probe used in same

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an ultrasonic probe contains at least one reception preamplifier that is provided per transducer element and connected to the transducer at an input side thereof and to a cable at an output side thereof, a transmission bypass unit that is connected between the cable and the transducer, blocks off a reception signal and allows a transmission signal to pass therethrough, and a floating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of the preamplifier and a driving power source and increases impedance thereof for a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a bias potential of the preamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to an original bias potential by a reception time.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus inwhich an ultrasonic probe containing at least one transducer and atransceiver containing a transmission amplifier and a reception circuitare connected to each other through a cable, and an ultrasonic probeused in the same.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus contains a transmissioncircuit for generating a high voltage AC signal in the device, and ahigh-voltage transmission pulse is transmitted through a cable to excitethe ultrasonic transducer in an ultrasonic probe. Furthermore, anultrasonic wave reflected and returned from a living body is received bythe ultrasonic transducer, and a reception signal is likewisetransmitted through the cable into the device, separated in a TRseparation circuit (transmission/reception separating circuit),transmitted to the reception circuit to be amplified, and thentransmitted to an image processor.

The reception signal is generally a very faint signal of about severaltens to several hundreds mV. Accordingly, these signals are lowered insignal level due to voltage division caused by parasitic capacitance ofthe cable, or SNR remarkably deteriorates due to a cable insertion lossor an effect of parasitic resistance of a high-voltage switch.Therefore, it is considered that a preamplifier is provided to a gripend portion in the ultrasonic probe (probe) to amplify a receptionsignal when the reception signal is transmitted through the cable,whereby an effect of noise can be relatively suppressed.

Patent Document 1 is known as a circuit which has been hitherto devisedto provide a preamplifier in an ultrasonic probe.

Furthermore, Patent Document 2 is also an example of a circuit forprotecting a preamplifier.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT Patent Document

-   Patent Document 1: JP-A-63-177839-   Patent Document 2: JP-A-2007-319286

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problem to be Solved by the Invention

However, when the preamble is mounted in the grip end portion in theultrasonic probe, the grip end portion is a site which is directlyhandled by an operator, and thus usability is greatly affected by theshape and weight of the grip end portion. Accordingly, it is veryimportant that the circuit is small in scale and light in weight when itis mounted in the grip end portion. Accordingly, there is required asimple circuit construction which does not use anytransmission/reception separating circuit as much as possible and doesnot require opening/closing control.

The invention has been implemented in view of these problems, and has anobject to provide a compact and light ultrasonic probe that preventsincrease of transmission functionality, reception functionality and anattendant circuit thereto in circuit scale, an ultrasonic diagnosticapparatus using the ultrasonic probe, and an ultrasonic probe used inthe ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

Means of Solving the Problem

In order to solve the above problem, according to the invention, in anultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an ultrasonic probe containing atleast one transducer therein and a transceiver containing a transmissionamplifier and a reception circuit therein which are used in connectionwith each other through a cable, the ultrasonic probe contains:

at least one reception preamplifier that is provided per transducerelement and connected to the transducer at an input side thereof and toa cable at an output side thereof;

a transmission bypass unit that is connected between the cable and thetransducer, blocks off a reception signal and allows a transmissionsignal to pass therethrough; and

a floating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and a driving power source and increases impedance thereoffor a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a bias potential of thepreamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to anoriginal bias potential by a reception time.

In the invention, the floating unit may be constructed by a backflowpreventing diode connected between the power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and the driving power source, and a capacitor connected tothe diode.

In the invention, the transmission bypass unit may be constructed bydiodes which are connected to each other in a back-to-back connectionstyle.

In the invention, the reception preamplifier may be constructed by anemitter follower circuit based on transistors, or a source followercircuit based on FET.

Furthermore, according to the invention, in an ultrasonic diagnosticapparatus having an ultrasonic probe containing at least one transducertherein and a transceiver containing a transmission amplifier and areception circuit therein which are used in connection with each otherthrough a cable, the ultrasonic probe contains:

at least one reception preamplifier that is provided per transducerelement and connected to the transducer at an input side thereof and toa cable at an output side thereof; and

a floating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and a driving power source and increases impedance thereoffor a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a bias potential of thepreamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to anoriginal bias potential by a reception time,

wherein the reception preamplifier allows a transmission signal to passfrom a cable side to a transducer side under the floating state.

In the invention, the floating unit may be constructed by a backflowpreventing diode connected between the power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and the driving power source, and a capacitor connected tothe diode.

In the invention, the reception amplifier may be constructed by anemitter follower circuit based on high withstanding voltage transistors,or an emitter follower circuit in which a PNP transistor and an NPNtransistor are connected to each other in series so that emittersthereof are commonly connected to each other.

Still furthermore, according to the invention, in an ultrasonic probehaving at least one transducer contained in a case, the case contains:

at least one reception preamplifier that is provided per transducerelement and connected to the transducer at an input side thereof and toa cable at an output side thereof;

a transmission bypass unit that is connected between the cable and thetransducer, blocks off a reception signal and allows a transmissionsignal to pass therethrough; and

a floating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and a driving power source and increases impedance thereoffor a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a bias potential of thepreamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to anoriginal bias potential by a reception time.

In the invention, the floating unit may be constructed by a backflowpreventing diode connected between the power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and the driving power source, and a capacitor connected tothe diode.

Still furthermore, according to the invention, in an ultrasonic probehaving at least one transducer in a case, the case contains at least onereception preamplifier that is provided per transducer element andconnected to the transducer at an input side thereof and to a cable atan output side thereof, and a floating unit that is connected between apower supply terminal of the preamplifier and a driving power source andincreases impedance thereof for a high-voltage transmission signal,whereby a bias potential of the preamplifier is electrically set to afloating state and returned to an original bias potential by a receptiontime, and the reception preamplifier allows a transmission signal topass from a cable side to a transducer side under the floating state.

In the invention, the floating unit may be constructed by a backflowpreventing diode connected between the power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and the driving power source, and a capacitor connected tothe diode.

In the invention, the reception amplifier may be constructed by anemitter follower circuit based on high withstanding voltage transistors.

Effect of the Invention

According to the invention, the reception amplifier is installed in theultrasonic probe without increasing the transmission functionality, thereception functionality and the appendant circuit thereto, and thus thecompact and light ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnosticapparatus using the ultrasonic probe can be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an electrical connection diagram showing a first embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation of the first embodiment duringtransmission.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation of the first embodiment duringreception.

FIG. 4 is an electrical connection diagram showing a second embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the second embodiment duringtransmission.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of the second embodiment duringreception.

FIG. 7 is an electrical connection diagram showing a third embodiment ofthe invention.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to theinvention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Inthe following description and drawings, the same constituent elementsare represented by the same reference numerals and the duplicativedescription thereof is omitted.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is an electrical connection diagram showing the first embodimentof the invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an operationduring transmission and an operation during reception in the firstembodiment of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, an example of a buffer amplifier implemented by anemitter follower circuit 16 having two transistors is shown as apreamble for amplifying a reception signal.

An NPN type transistor 17 and a PNP type transistor 17 are connected toeach other in series so that the emitters thereof serve as a commonconnection point, thereby constructing the emitter follower circuit 16.The input side of the emitter follower circuit 16 is connected to atransducer 3, and the output side thereof is connected to a cable 8. Inthis embodiment, the emitter follower circuit using the transistors isused as a preamplifier for reception, however, the receptionpreamplifier may be constructed by a source follower circuit using FET(electric field effect transistor).

Current is supplied from driving power sources Vdd and Vss throughbackflow preventing diodes 15 to the power supply terminal of thepreamplifier concerned. A capacitor 12 a, 12 b is connected to the earthin the neighborhood of the connection point between the driving powersource Vdd, Vss and the diode 15. The input side of the preamplifier isconnected to the transducer 3, and the output side thereof is connectedto the cable 8. A back-to-back connection diode 7 constructed by diodesD1 and D2 which are connected to each other in inverse-parallelconnection style is connected between the transducer 3 and the cable 8.

A shown in FIG. 2, during transmission, a high-voltage transmissionpulse excites the transducer 3 through the back-to-back connection diode7 which prevents transmission of faint reception signal and allows onlya high-voltage transmission pulse to pass therethrough. The back-to-backconnection diode 7 corresponds to a transmission bypass unit of theinvention.

A high-voltage transmission pulse is applied to the input terminal andoutput terminal of the preamplifier. However, as described above, thepower supply terminal is set to an electrically floating state by thebackflow preventing diodes 15, so that the bias potential of thepreamplifier itself varies together with the voltage of the transmissionpulse and thus no potential difference occurs, thereby performing afunction of protecting the preamplifier. That is, a voltage of about ±5to 100V is used as the transmission pulse, and a voltage of about ±2 to5V is used as the voltages Vdd and Vss of the driving power sources.When the transmission pulse has a positive voltage, the diode 15 at thepositive power source Vdd side is inversely biased and thus set to ablock-off state. When the transmission pulse has a negative voltage, thediode 15 at the negative power source Vss side is inversely biased andthus set to a block-off state, so that the preamplifier is set to afloating state. Here, the voltage corresponding to the differencebetween the transmission pulse and the voltage Vdd, Vss of the drivingpower source is applied to the diode 15, and thus the diodes arerequired to have a high withstanding voltage.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, under reception, the bias potential ofthe preamble itself is returned to an original state, and the receptionsignal as a faint AC signal which is prevented by the back-to-backconnection diode 7 is led to the preamplifier to be amplified at apredetermined gain. Here, capacitors 12 have an effect of supplyingrapid current for recovery of the bias potential of the preamplifierfrom the transmission time to the reception time, and also suppressingrapid variation of a power supply voltage caused by an effect of acommon impedance of the driving power sources Vdd and Vss. Furthermore,it is needless to say that the capacitors 12 also act as bypasscapacitors when the reception signal is amplified. That is, when pluraltransducers and a reception preamplifier are provided, wraparound of asignal through a power supply circuit can be prevented by groundingthrough the capacitors 12. Here, the diodes 15 and the capacitors 12correspond to a floating unit of the invention.

As described above, the merit of this embodiment resides in that thepreamplifier can be installed in the ultrasonic probe with providingneither a special TR separating circuit nor an analog switch or withoutcontrolling them, and thus the circuit can be provided with a simpleconstruction.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 4 is an electrical connection diagram showing a second embodimentaccording to the invention, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing theoperation of the second embodiment of the invention under transmissionand under reception.

As shown in FIG. 4, an emitter follower circuit 16 for buffering areception signal supplies current from driving power sources Vdd and Vssthrough backflow preventing diodes 15 to the power supply terminal ofthe emitter follower circuit. Furthermore, a capacitor 12 a, 12 b isconnected between the earth and a neighborhood of the connection pointof the driving source Vdd, Vss and the diode 15. Here, the diodes 15 andthe capacitors 12 correspond to the floating unit of the invention.

In this embodiment, the emitter follower circuit 16 is constructed byconnecting an NPN type high withstanding voltage transistor 17 and a PNPtype high withstanding voltage transistor 17 in series while theemitters thereof serve as a common connection point. The input side ofthe emitter follower circuit 16 is connected to a transducer 3, and theoutput side thereof is connected to a cable 8.

A feature of the construction of this embodiment resides in that it isconstructed by the emitter follower circuit 16 using the highwithstanding voltage transistors, and another feature resides in thatthere is not used the back-to-back connection diode 7 which is providedin the embodiment 1 to prevent a faint reception signal and thus allowonly a high voltage transmission pulse to pass therethrough and isconstructed by the diodes D1 and D2 which are connected to each other ininverse-parallel connection style.

Under transmission, as shown in FIG. 5, the site between the base andthe emitter of the two transistors 17 of the emitter follower operatesas a diode. Specifically, when the high voltage transmission pulse has apositive voltage, AC current passes from the emitter of the PNPtransistor through the base. When the high voltage transmission pulsehas a negative voltage, AC current passes from the base of the NPNtransistor through the emitter. The transducer 3 is excited through theemitter follower circuit 16. The high voltage transmission pulse isapplied to the base and emitter terminals of the emitter followercircuit 16. However, as described above, the power supply terminals areset to the electrically floating state by the backflow preventing diodes15, so that the bias potential of the preamplifier itself variestogether with the voltage of the transmission pulse, and thus nopotential difference occurs. A high voltage is applied between thecollector and the base and between the collector and the emitter, andthus the transistors are required to be high withstanding voltagetransistors.

Under reception, as shown in FIG. 6, the bias potential is recovered tothe bias potential of the normal emitter follower, and the receptionsignal is buffered by the operation of the general emitter follower.

An example in which decoupling is performed by only the capacitors 12 isdescribed above. However, a decoupling effect can be enhanced byarranging a resistor of about several Ω to several hundreds Ω, a coil orferrite in series between the driving power sources and the backflowpreventing diodes 15.

With respect to a recovery time of the bias potential of thepreamplifier from the floating state, it is desired that the biaspotential is recovered by the reception time. Therefore, for example,the values of the capacitors at the base side and emitter side of thetransistors of the emitter follower circuit may be determined on thebasis of a time constant τ which is converged when the bias potential isrecovered. Furthermore, as in the case of the embodiment 1, thecapacitor 12 also serves as a bypass capacitor for the reception signal.

In addition to the merit of the embodiment 1, the merit of thisembodiment as described above resides in that it is unnecessary toprovide the back-to-back connection diode 7 and thus the circuit scalecan be further reduced.

Accordingly, when the preamplifier is mounted in the grip end portion inthe ultrasonic probe, a smaller and lighter ultrasonic probe can beimplemented in comparison with prior arts.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 7 is an electrical connection diagram of the third embodiment ofthe invention.

An example in which a buffer amplifier is implemented as a preamplifierfor amplifying a reception signal by an emitter follower circuit 16 offour transistors is shown in FIG. 7.

A first PNP type transistor 17 a and a first NPN type transistor 17 bare connected to each other in series so that the collectors thereofserve as a common connection point and also the bases thereof serve as acommon connection point. In addition, the emitter of the first PNP typetransistor 17 a is connected to the base of a second NPN type transistor17 d, and the emitter of the first NPN type transistor 17 b is connectedto the base of a second PNP type transistor 17 c. Furthermore, thesecond PNP type transistor 17 d and the second PNP type transistor 17 care connected to each other in series so that the emitters thereof serveas a common connection point, whereby an emitter follower circuit 16 isconstructed. The input side of the emitter follower circuit 16 isconnected to the transducer 3, and the output side thereof is connectedto a cable 8.

In this embodiment, the emitter follower circuit using the transistorsis shown as the preamplifier for reception. However, it may beconstructed by a source follower circuit using FET (electric fieldeffect transistor).

The feature of the circuit construction of the third embodimentaccording to the invention resides in that the input and output of thepreamplifier can be DC-coupled. Accordingly, no capacitor for ACcoupling is required, and thus the circuit can be easily designed as anIC.

The operation of the circuit under transmission/reception is the same asthe operations under transmission and under reception in the firstembodiment according to the invention.

Particularly, an ultrasonic probe which exercises an electricalperformance effect of the invention is an ultrasonic probe in which theimpedance of the transducer 3 is equal to or more than thecharacteristic impedance of the cable, for example, 100Ω. Specifically,with respect to transducers such as a non-laminated PZT transducer(containing composite), a monocrystal transducer, cMUT, 2D array probe,the impedance of the transducer 3 is equal to about several hundreds Ωto several thousands Ω, the signal level is lowered due to voltagedivision caused by the parasitic capacitance of the cable 8, and SNR isremarkably deteriorated due to insertion loss of the cable and an effectof parasitic resistance of the high-voltage switch. When the inventionis applied, the circuit is hardly affected by the parasitic impedance ofthe cable or the like due to signal amplification and lowering of theamplifier output impedance, so that the reduction of the receptionsignal level and the deterioration of SNR can be prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 ultrasonic probe, 2 transceiver, 3 transducer, 7 back-to-backconnection diode, 8 cable, 12, 12 a, 12 b capacitor, 15 diode, 16emitter follower circuit, 17 transistor

1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an ultrasonic probecontaining at least one transducer therein and a transceiver containinga transmission amplifier and a reception circuit therein which are usedin connection with each other through a cable, characterized in that theultrasonic probe contains: at least one reception preamplifier that isprovided per transducer element and connected to the transducer at aninput side thereof and to a cable at an output side thereof; atransmission bypass unit that is connected between the cable and thetransducer, blocks off a reception signal and allows a transmissionsignal to pass therethrough; and a floating unit that is connectedbetween a power supply terminal of the reception preamplifier and adriving power source and increases impedance thereof for a high-voltagetransmission signal, whereby a bias potential of the receptionpreamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to anoriginal bias potential by a reception time.
 2. The ultrasonicdiagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the floating unit isconstructed by a backflow preventing diode connected between the powersupply terminal of the preamplifier and the driving power source, and acapacitor connected to the diode.
 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the transmission bypass unit isconstructed by diodes which are connected to each other in aback-to-back connection style.
 4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the reception preamplifier is constructedby an emitter follower circuit based on transistors.
 5. The ultrasonicdiagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receptionamplifier is constructed by a source follower circuit based on FET. 6.An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an ultrasonic probe containingat least one transducer therein and a transceiver containing atransmission amplifier and a reception circuit therein which are used inconnection with each other through a cable, characterized in that theultrasonic probe contains: at least one reception preamplifier that isprovided per transducer element and connected to the transducer at aninput side thereof and to a cable at an output side thereof; and afloating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of thepreamplifier and a driving power source and increases impedance thereoffor a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a bias potential of thepreamplifier is electrically set to a floating state and returned to anoriginal bias potential by a reception time, wherein the receptionpreamplifier allows a transmission signal to pass from a cable side to atransducer side under the floating state.
 7. The ultrasonic diagnosticapparatus according to claim 6, wherein the floating unit is constructedby a backflow preventing diode connected between the power supplyterminal of the preamplifier and the driving power source, and acapacitor connected to the diode.
 8. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the reception amplifier is constructed byan emitter follower circuit based on high withstanding voltagetransistors.
 9. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim8, wherein the emitter follower circuit is constructed by an emitterfollower circuit in which a PNP transistor and an NPN transistor areconnected to each other in series so that emitters thereof are commonlyconnected to each other.
 10. An ultrasonic probe having at least onetransducer contained in a case, characterized in that the case contains:at least one reception preamplifier that is provided per transducerelement and connected to the transducer at an input side thereof and toa cable at an output side thereof; a transmission bypass unit that isconnected between the cable and the transducer, blocks off a receptionsignal and allows a transmission signal to pass therethrough; and afloating unit that is connected between a power supply terminal of thereception preamplifier and a driving power source and increasesimpedance thereof for a high-voltage transmission signal, whereby a biaspotential of the reception preamplifier is electrically set to afloating state and returned to an original bias potential by a receptiontime.
 11. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 10, wherein thefloating unit is constructed by a backflow preventing diode connectedbetween the power supply terminal of the preamplifier and the drivingpower source, and a capacitor connected to the diode.
 12. (canceled) 13.(canceled)
 14. (canceled)